


Fall

by Louffox



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: I'm Sorry, M/M, Oak Doors, Oneshot, Parade Day, Shit goes down, Strex, this will not be a good ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 17:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1574099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louffox/pseuds/Louffox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The events leading up to Parade Day.<br/>Carlos had a bigger hand in the events than we heard. Everything was going exactly according to plan. Until suddenly, it wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fall

Carlos had been a cautious driver, once. That was before his boyfriend had started speaking in 2nd person on his radio show, and having to employ his Subversive Radio Host skills, and secretly disobeying the malevolent company that had taken over everything in their town.

Or maybe it had been before he’d gotten a boyfriend. Because, you know, _he had a boyfriend_.

But the time for cautious driving was gone. He had one hand at the twelve and the other off the wheel entirely, holding a phone up to his ear, and his head was turned around to look back at the intersection he’d just blasted through. Had that been a red light? Too late now. He doubted the SSP would tag him for a red light- he supplied half of them with an illegal supply of bagels, made with real wheat. But everything else he was doing could be hardly overlooked.

Speeding. Driving recklessly. Breaking the new curfew. Revealing his hand in the day’s events. He might get two or three tickets. Or a dozen.

Except, tickets were probably not what would be waiting for him when he stopped. Because the SSP might not be taking the situation.

Strex was in charge, as they had so violently reassured everyone today.

~

~

~

“Do you really think this is a good idea?”

“How else are we supposed to get it out? Everyone listens to him. You can’t _not_ listen to him. And he’s been _dying_ to get involved, you know that.”

“But this isn’t- He’s not- Involved, sure, but this is making him in charge of a huge operation, this is all going to fall on _you_ , and on _him_.”

“It’s not going to fall, he’ll be a hero. We’ll win. There won’t be anything falling on anyone. The only fall will be Strex’s fall from their highbrow office chairs.”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you have any other ideas?”

“...”

“Well, this is all we’ve got. And there’s no time left, everything is all set up. If you come up with anything better, feel free to let me know and change the plan, but this is all we can do.”

“I… I know.”

“Look, I’m sorry that you’re worried and that it isn’t going exactly as you’d imagined- but everything else is going perfect, your communications array, your door theory proved right, your interception map worked, even your adult-to-child helicopter control adapter worked. You’ve worked too hard and come too far to stop now. And Cecil might be a little… well, _Cecil_ , but he’s not stupid, and he’s sure as hell not helpless.”

“Yeah, I… You’re right. I’ll talk to him tonight.”

“Talk to who?” the melodious baritone carried into the room and Carlos jumped slightly.

“Bye, good luck,” Tamika said, a laugh in her voice, and she disconnected.

Carlos glared at the receiver before hanging up as well. He turned and rearranged his face into a smile, which became more genuine when Cecil walked in and pressed a warm kiss to his cheek.

“Who was that?” Cecil asked, loosening his tie and flicking open the top button of his shirt.

“That… that was Tamika,” Carlos said, catching Cecil’s hands and guiding him down to sit on the couch, and sat beside him.

“Tamika Flynn?” Cecil gasped, eyes widening.

“Yeah, she’s uh… yeah, that was her.”

“What… what’s going on? Why did she call?”

“She called because we’ve been plotting a revolution for the past few weeks and she was clearing up some details,” Carlos sighed, deciding to come right out with it.

Cecil was doing an excellent deer-in-headlights look. A normal deer, of course, not one of the terrible deer that stalked the sand wastes of Night Vale. “A… revolution?”

“I suppose I have a lot to tell you.”

“Uh, _yeah_ , you do,” Cecil snorted, slipping his hands out of Carlos’s.

“A month or so ago, I was tinkering with an old phone. I actually- well, I was… I was trying to get it to be able to contact Dana, because I know you miss her and it would mean a lot to you if you could get in touch without your phone bleeding and without everything being inverted. And I must’ve accidentally tapped into Strex’s helicopter radio. From listening in, I managed to draw a map of their flight plans- Strex is very structured and methodical, and they never change their flight paths. I didn’t know who else to show the information, so I went back to the phone and managed to get in touch with the helicopter pilot that Tamika kidnapped, and from there, in touch with Tamika.”

“You’ve been in contact with- and you’re the reason she’s been able to- okay, wow. Continue,” Cecil repeated, blinking. Carlos took off his glasses and rubbed his supraorbital process and nasal bone.

“She was really impressed with what I managed to do. I was so excited, I wanted to tell everyone, because Strex has been so hard on everyone and I thought they could do with the hope. And she pointed out that anyone I told was in danger. That telling would put people in danger. That I was in danger. And the more people that knew, the more likely it was to get out. So I didn’t tell you. And I kept helping. I… I’ve done a lot of things to help. I’ve made a secure line to contact Tamika with. I’ve adapted the stolen helicopters for the children to be able to fly. I’ve tapped into half of Strex’s radio signals. We’ve been using fragments found from the PTA meeting a while ago- the one with the pterodactyl attack- to bridge a dimension or two. Erika has been helping a little with that. We’ve been doing outreach to connect everything all at once, and it’s all set up and ready to go in a few days. We've got Dana and her army, Jose and her angels, and Earl and his scouts all ready.”

Cecil’s mouth had fallen open slightly, and Carlos couldn’t help but kiss his bottom lip lightly.

“Cecil, say something. I’m sorry I hid it from you, but I was just trying to minimize any collateral. And I know you’ve been under enough pressure at work,” Carlos breathed, pulling back to scrutinize his face.

“And you also know that I’ve been trying to get in touch with Tamika for _months_ and I’ve been absolutely _dying_ to fight, Carlos, why wouldn’t you let me help?” Cecil finally said.

“That’s why I’m finally telling you all this. We need your help. I just… I’m scared, Cecil. I’m so scared that one day I’m going to call and it won’t be Tamika who answers, it’ll be a syrupy happy drugged-up Strex employee, I’m scared I’m going to come home one day and find it ransacked, I’m scared I’m not going to come home at all. But the thing that scares me most, out of all of these things, is that one day, _you’re_ not going to come home at all. So I guess I’ve been a little overprotective.”

Cecil hesitantly smiled at him. “If you said anything about a scientist being self-reliant I was going to go ballistic.” Carlos laughed, feeling lighter than he had in weeks. “What help do you need?” And there was the weight again.

“Like I said, everything is all ready. We have three days until everything happens. We’ve done everything we can to get those who were out of reach back in the game. We have the power, the leaders, but we need the numbers. We’re going to need everyone for this, Cecil,” Carlos said darkly. “This will be no small operation.”

“So you need me to get the rest of the town on board,” Cecil concluded, and Carlos nodded grimly. Maybe Tamika was right- he was catching on fast, taking in the news quickly and without any unnecessary questions. He was a born and raised Night Valian, after all. He was probably better experienced in these situations than Carlos was.

“Right. In a very subtle way. I know that most of the folks from Desert Bluffs who’ve come here don’t listen to your own show, and the Strex people don’t listen either, but just in case, we can’t take the chance of them realizing what’s going to happen,” he said firmly. “Our biggest advantage is to remain covert. They won’t be able to organize fast enough, with them being spread so thin across town and both here and at Desert Bluffs. We have to move quickly and silently.”

“Right. I never got the badge for Stealthy Corporation Overthrow, I left the scouts before I could, but I helped my old friend Earl study for it,” Cecil said agreeably. “I’ve already got an idea. There’s a code that every Night Valian learns as a child, and we’ve used it to communicate during lacrosse and soccer games against Desert Bluffs before, we know they haven’t translated it. I’ll tap it out tomorrow during the basketball highlights. It may be helpful to give the operation a code. Something simple, so that those who don’t know the code will still attend, but something that Strex wouldn’t be interested in.”

“That’s a great idea,” Carlos said, pulling him over to kiss him gently on the lips. “You’re so clever. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you for so long, I should’ve known better. You’ve known for all of five minutes and already fixing holes in the plan.”

“They aren’t holes, it’s already a perfect plan. Just my own little touches to my job. Subversive Radio Host,” he said, pointing at himself. “This part just happens to be my forte. And we’re going to call it ‘Parade Day’.”

“Neat,” Carlos smirked, knowing it would get a reaction from Cecil. He didn’t disappoint- he groaned and flopped back against the couch.

“You’re never going to let that go,” he moaned.

“I might let it go for a few minutes, for something more interesting. A bit more fun with my mouth than talking. Though I could listen to you talk all night,” Carlos said wryly, taking advantage of Cecil’s reclined position to lean in and nibble at his exposed neck.

“Eep! Carlos!”

“I like it when you talk. I like it when you’re smart. I like plotting with you. Is that strange? A kink for revolutionaries?” he wondered, pausing to think.

“I don’t think so. We’ll add it to the list,” Cecil said mischievously, cupping the back of his neck to bring him back up to kiss.

~

~

~

It had all gone wrong. It had gone so wrong, and Carlos wasn’t sure where it went wrong. He felt sick with unease and fear. And guilt.

The doors hadn’t worked.

They’d opened, sure, and they had people on the other side- Dana and her army, Old Woman Jose, the angels. Carlos was at the site of their operation, the house that shouldn’t exist, where all the doors had linked to. There, he’d started the dimension-spanning device he’d crafted with the help of Tamika, Erika, Jose, Dana, and one other, and it had sputtered but started, and Cecil dutifully reported on the doors, neutral and calm as usual, not mentioning anything aside from what was relayed to him. He was a bit obvious about The Parade, but Carlos had told him to be- it was Parade Day, Strex wouldn’t be able to bring forces from Desert Bluffs in time.

And then Carlos realized Earl hadn’t checked in, and there was no door for him or the scouts. Tamika quickly rewrote her battle plans, but it was a heavy blow. The Eternal Scouts were nearly deities. With them, victory was almost certain. Without them… well. Carlos plunged into the house himself to try to find him. Parade Day was a precarious operation even with all its pieces on the board. They needed the scouts.

Carlos didn’t find the broken link in the house. He rushed back out, hammering on the door for them to let him out, so he could inspect the device. He had to fix it. He could fix it. He would fix it.

He was too late.

When he went outside, he found blowing papers and dropped clipboards and walkie talkies. The device was gone. Tire tracks from a large vehicle.

_Something terrible has happened._

His car remained. He grabbed his keys and threw himself behind the wheel, phone already out and dialing. His radio was going and he was listening with growing horror. Tamika captured. No mention of Dana, or Jose, or the teams that either of them led. No mention of Earl at all.

His phone rang and rang and rang. There was no Voice at the other end.

He blasted through a light and half turned to see if it was red, then realized there was no point. Too late.

_Too late too late too late_

His foot hit the floor when Cecil’s broadcast cut off abruptly. Silently, he was cursing his hybrid and its inability to accelerate with the power that he needed, furiously, but he knew it wasn’t his car’s fault, it was his, it was his, it was his-

The station. He whipped into the lot and almost sent himself through the windshield from braking too hard, threw it in park, and was out the door and in the station so fast, and his heart was going so fast-

In the studio-

“Cecil?” Carlos gasped, winded, adrenaline burning through his body, fear burning through his head, hands shaking, knees going weak with relief.

He turned around, and Carlos’s knees went completely.

_“Nogodnotyou-!”_

  
  
  


**..-. .- .-.. .-..**

  
  



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